titanversefandomcom-20200215-history
Degrees of Separation
Team Titan Think Tank Issue 28 Occupied Territory (Part Five)- Degrees of Separation Front cover- in the foreground of the cover, the Games Master stands, back to the reader, an energy shield in one hand, energy axe in the other He stands in a sewer, as his brother, the Dungeon Master, stands in the background; purple energy is pouring from his eyes, and he lifts up one fist, which glows with power as hordes of energy construct goblins wielding axes run at Games Master; the comic is presented in a bright, 70s style and along the bottom, the issue says OCCUPIED TERRITORY as normal, but in the top left corner is a yellow splash bubble which says "...INTO THE REALM OF THE DUNGEON MASTER!" The comic opens with a Narration box "Four Years Ago." The comic opens to show a black shelled robot sat in a reclining leather chair; instead of a face, he has a red visor, within which there are white glows which form simple eyes and mouth and across his chest is a blue celtic cross. He sits in the chair, reading a book where the title is obscured, but it looks very much like an old fashioned Monster Manual. He turns, as the door in this underground bunker turned workshop, opens behind him and through the door comes Samuel T Gunn, followed by another identical CABER robot. The CABER in the chair turns his head. The reader can see the back of his head is melted partially open, and the blinking lights of his positronic brain can be seen. Narration- "After the fight against the Tyrant of Creation." "Well. D'we win?" CABER 1, the CABER in the chair asks. Tommy, his helmet off, but still in his powersuit, nods, but nods grimly. "We did, mate. But we lost a few. Wasn't expectin' no meteor. Or demon army. Or giant demon with the power of the army after we killed 'em... its complicated. Suit- standing mode." Tommy's new adaptible powersuit separates into segments away from his body, and then reforms against the wall, helm closing over. CABER 1 says "Sorry t'hear that. Hey bro" he waves his Monster Manual. "Y'should read this stuff. Its genius... funnest lookin' owl I ever saw in 'ere..." CABER 2 paces over with but a few strides, glancing down briefly at the pages. "That's graate, bro'." He tries a grin, but frowns of concern creep over his metallic features. "Howa'ya doin'?" "Well uh..." he lifts up one hand. Its looks human. "Tha' whole 'disguise mode' things on tha fritz. Not that we use it anyway, both lookin' the same an all. An' ah... otherwise, ah'm okay. A few motor control glitches 'ere an' there." Tommy gets out some small tools into a tray, and set up something similar to an operating theatre. "That mean you want to take out the 'disguise mode'?" "No, noooo... actually, ah'd like to try the whole lookin' human thin'... just maybe, not lookin' like the other CABER did when he did. Yoo know. Tha firs'. Wha do ya thin', bro?" CABER 2 takes a step back, the black shell scratched with battle marks. And with a subtle flow of energy his form shifts to human. Grinning, properly now. "I c'u'd get'ta used ta it, bro', yeah. Lookin' human ain't 'alf bad." He looks like a huge, bald, Glaswegian bruiser. "Not that pretty on tha eyes though are ya? Hey, gort an' idea. If uh, Tommy here can gi' me a new prettier human form... what about both o' us geet one?" says CABER 1 "Suits me." CABER 2 shrugs. "Okay, I get it. You want to make something of yourselves, stand out from the shadow of the original CABER. I like it" says Samuel. And he leans over CABER 1's head with various solding tools. "Masters of your own fate, an' all that." CUT The comic cuts to show where Chaos enveloped Whale with a teleportation wave and cuts inside Whale's mouth as Games Master, still in his Wolfenstein form, has the Blaskowitz face look in shock. As Games Master appears out of a green portal, and lands on a metal grill. There is sewage flow on each side of him, and he is in a cross-section of sewer pipes. At the centre of the cross section is a ramshackle abode; there is a worn out sofa, a wooden chair, a pile of books, a pile of comics, a coffee table and a battered old CD player and reclining across the sofa is a man looking rather like GM, but clad in a long flowing, stereotypical purple wizard's robe, replete with pointy hat. He looks over. The comic zooms in to show Dungeon Master, with a partially melted face. The right side has partially turned to some kind of ooze, and is dripping off. His eyes blaze with purple energy. "Well well. I never fought I'd ZTT. see YE here... ZT bro." He stands up. "Welcome to my... my...my... DUNGEON!" GM steps forward with uncertainty. "Brother? Is that really you?" "What? Don't you.. ZTTTTTTTT... ye recognise me handsome mug ZTTT face?" GM strides closer, but there is clear terror in his human eyes. "You need help, bro'. Just, let me help-" "HELP? HELP... y'know... I raised my voice. ZZZT Yer right, ah did ZTT NEED HELP WHEN YOU ABANDONED ME!" Out of his glowing hand roll 3 eight sided die, made of energy. "3D8 GOBLINS!" With his other hand he gestures and out of it leap purple goblin energy constructs, all wielding little axes and shields. As the goblins appear, the panel shows GM standing with a defensive stance, the goblins with their backs to the reader. A thought bubble shows "How am I here..? Something must have tapped into my subconscious memories, this cannot be right." He then speaks."Listen, bro'. I'm not going to fight you." He says with strong resolve. "Then it looks like, for once, the DUNGEON MASTER gets to win!" The 16 goblins leap at Games Master, but as they hack at him, his skin glows purple with each impacts, absorbing it. Covered in a mass of goblin limbs, it looks hopeless as they appear to overwhelm him. With a "TEYAAAAAAAAAA" a globe of energy bursts out around him, sending the goblins sprawling across the panel. "THEN you win! I WON'T FIGHT YOU." Anger crinkles his features. The comic cuts to the Blitzkrieg host of Yu, as it plummets towards Redemption. "Lets see what happens when hope dies." He fires a beam of heat out of his swashtika on his chest at Reb, as he plummets at him, his back to the reader. "Hope cannot die! It's light is eternal, shining bright in your darkness fiend!" He throws his arms back as his chest shines bright. "Behold your slave's hope for freedom!" He fires a beam upwards. The beam of hope slams into the beam of heat, shooting up it. As it powers towards Blitzkrieg's chest, the beam of heat is blasted apart. But Redemption's own beam is whittled down to nothing by the time it reaches Blitzkrieg. The comic then cuts to Tonic, being flown along by the invisible Don, as she watches (in likely horror) as the form becomes visible, due to the metal growing all over it. Don Pterana transforms into another heavily armoured Blitzkrieg; discs of electricity form out of his feet as he lands them on a roof. Tonic utterly fails to suppress a terrified whimper. The swashtika shines brightly. "You resist me. Which means you either die, or you contact your friends back in ze real world, and open a portal. Which will it be?" He holds onto her still, whilst, holding the burning swashtika inches from his chest. "I...I c...can't. I h...have n...no way t...to c..contact a...anybody..." "Lies. You came here, and you broadcasted something into my network. Something it seems Wrench unwittingly broke. A shame I had to kill him." His face leans close to her eyes, the heat of his eyes burning uncomfortably. "You vould not come here without a way to return. Contact zem." We cut back to Dungeon Master."You can't just nae FIGHT! I can't have fun poundin' ye if you DON'T FIGHT BACK!" Games Masters' form expands and shifts into a demonic skull face with red eyes and a fanged gapping maw. He yells "RAWWWWR I HUNGER. BEWARE COWARD. If you fight me you will not win." "Oh damn it bro, you know I suck at fighting boss levels... ZT... " Dungeon Master backs off, intimidated CUT We cut to Sonne and Cain and Rajah as well "Cain, what do we do? We can't delay much longer, but we're scattered!" Sonne blurts out. The custard Tonic created turns back to air, leaving Rajah clean again, and one of her dart launchers lies on the floor. "Hardly an issue, provided they can all stay healthy. It's bound to distract... 'Blitzy,' quite well. More so if he thinks I've beaten you." Citizen Ape still stands before them, and seven reichdroids above. "What do you mean, beaten me? This isn't the time to be vague!" "I generally find 'surrounded by all-seeing nanites' the best time to skip details, Gunn. Regardless. Do you still have GRANDDAD on the line?" "No, and I can't get him back. I-.. it happened when that Wrench guy rewrote the genetic code of the infected." "That... complicates issues." he admits, eyes quickly flitting over their situation as his mild grin turns to grimace "I-... I think we have to take out the broadcast towers. But I've no idea what they look like. No-one's quicker on the team than me, Cain, but without me you're lost to the nanites." Cain pauses a moment, then laughs. "I am a *Titan*, my boy. Surely you don't think I would have kicked up more of a fuss throwing myself on *your* mercy in this mind-control deathtrap if I wasn't already immune to the worst of it?" "... My fault for assuming you were stoic in the face of insurmountable odds, Handbag. Won't happen again." "Gentleman, ATTENTION TO THE GIANT APE PLEASE!" yells Rajah, as Citizen Ape pounds his chest. "Still, I can't help but feel th- ah." Cain pauses. "Ngh-... fine, I guess I have yet to try this suit out to the fullest..." Sonne remarks. "If it's for the ape, fine." Cain says, slinking defensively, "But I still have a *very* rapid favour to ask before you go gallavanting around on some hero trip." "Ape now, favour later." Gunn rushes, kicking in a burst of speed. Gunn zooms towards the Ape with all the fury of a missile, causing a brief sonic boom as he rapidly accelerates over the short distance. He reaches back to punch out at the Ape's jaw with a mighty thunderclap of impact, but the ape appears unphased. Using his speed, he lays several more hits on the stone skin but achieves little more than a shower of gravel. "Hey! Rajah! Can I get a little Jelly here?!" "Give me a moment please..." he gamboles as heat beams shoot around him "I am being shot at!" Heat beams fire at Cain too, four of them, as two strike again his large and obvious wings. Esc-ape returns through a white swirling portal, behind Citizen Ape; he leaps to the side of portal and waits, leaving it open. Cain keeps his wings arced hugely around him, dissipating the worst of the hit to his left as it is spread against a wider area of leather. The other wing gets a worse pounding, the heat ray scorching a hole through it - Cain seethes, flinching away, as not only does it burn through but lances across his snout out the other side. The next panel is taken from behind Cain, who flexes his damaged wings defiantly, with the speech bubble "So it's lasers, is it?" as he begins to turn to a pale, dusty brown. As he turns back around, looking up at the droids in the sky, his eyes blazing with light blue energy. "I suppose I can stoop to lasers." And with that, he shoots a corona of proton energy into the sky at the Reichdroids. As three of them jet barely out of the blast, three are consumed and silhouetted anime-style by the beam, and in the next panel there is nothing left of them. The comic cuts to Mr psychis looking down at the peril of his two comrades. He pushes a button on his hat and looks towards Sonne as it spins into action. Sonne flinches, as he feels pressure against his brain, but just resists. "A strong will indeed, my boy. However, you do appear to be the best target in foiling this little scheme." "You had a part in it, you confusingly dressed man!" Sonne yells back. CUT The comic cuts back to Redemption, as a loud speech bubble (dictated by size) comes from Blitzkrieg Island. "ATTENTION TEAM TITAN!" The comic cuts to show all the other characters able to here this. "MY NAME IS DOKTOR MOLEKULUS! I HAVE CAPTIVE, ZE TITANS YOU LEFT BEHIND! IF YOU DO NOT RETURN WHENCE YOU CAME, I WILL KILL YOUR ALLIES! YOU HAVE SIX SECONDS TO COMPLY BEFORE I BEGIN! OH, AND IN CASE YOU GET ANY IDEAS, LITTLE FLYING MAN..." The island fires a plasma beam down at Redemption, as the beam fires, smaller heat beams fly at him from Reichdroids; he flies past most of them, as two glance off him and then the huge blue beam comes for him. He stares at the beam as it stikes him head on. "I WON'T BE BEATEN!" he roars under the punshment of the beam. A bright light shines and as the beam is done, Redemption floats there. still staring up at the island competely unharmed. CUT Out of Escp-ape's lingering portal comes a man in a black body covering costume. It covers his head completely and shows no facial features. Even the belt across the waist black like the rest. He walks under Citizen Ape's legs and holds out his hands at Rajah, Cain and Sonne as pulsating white energy coruscates out from his hands in a cone. "Oh no, not him..." says Rajah first in the area as the white energy hits him and his own transmutative energy flares from his hands. "AaaaaaaaaaaaaaRRRRRRRGHH!" his own powers flows along his clothes, which ignite as the comic shows the Rajah go up in green flames as he drops to the ground, smoking. "RAJAH!" Gunn's motion is erratic as he comes to cling to a building, as the red misting energy turns into angry red electric bolts which course through his body. With pain etched into his face, he looked at the flaming Rajah, white teeth bared in anguish. "R-RAAAJAH!" Cain, meanwhile, is looking at himself in horror, as his scales pulse between different colours, and different sections go at different rates. He falls to one knee as he takes on a stumpy ankylosaurus leg while the other stays as his normal velociraptor one. Many of his teeth grow tremendously, cracking the ones that don't, and he wails as his suit tears in places and three additional limbs - a spined tail, a frail but long-clawed arm, and weak arm with a wing limply trailing from it, as well as varying kinds of dinosaur spines ripping their way through his back "They're stunned... BBs, take them!" the black costumed mystery man yells back at the portal. As eight men dressed in black Battling Briton costumes fly out of the portal. Flying on rocket boots, with force field belts on, like the very first Battling Briton; though some fists strike both, they are not strong enough to beat the scales or the armour. "All right, move out of there... Plan B." The BBs, ineffective, fly back into the portal. "CTs, deploy!" Out of the portal come running four men dressed in Citizen Titan costumes, with their own black shields; two fling shields at Sonne, the other two leap at Cain. Their CT costumes are black. Cain spins his ever-morphing tail to knock back the assaulting fists. Sonne avoids one shield, but the other hits him in the neck of his suit; the shield bounces off without damaging the suit CUT The comic cuts to Reb. "You have my friends and you threaten their lives?" he asks the island it seems his eyes light up white. He makes a sudden blur of speed as he rockets to the island in front of the swashticka flag central structure near the top, where his chest begins to flare with light again where he unleashes it in the building blowing the wall inwaards "YOU HAD BEST HOPE TEAM TITAN LIVE WHEN I FIND YOU, CAD!" The comic zooms out to show the beam of light blasting a massive hole in the swashtika (as is traditional.) He looks through the hole, where he sees a control room area. Sat in it, looking very shocked, is the fat Moleculus, sat at a bank of computer on the back wall behind him is a lift door and a circular metal door, much like an airlock "VAS?" he says. "Your dark deeds behind your diabolical machine ends now, villian!" He throws his arms back as his chest lights up again firing at the computer. The beam fires through the machine and destroys the wall behind. "What dastardly ploy have you employed?" He narrows his eyes CUT Blitzkrieg faces Tonic. "Vell? Are you going to open your little communications and give me a portal, or do you want to die?" He pulls her closer to the burning swashtika. "I d...don't HAVE any c...communications. I h...have n...nothing! D...do y...you w...want me t...to e...empty my p...pockets and p...prove it?!" she is cowering as far from him as she physically can while stuck in his grip. He looks her over. The comic shows his infra-vision view. "You speak the truth. And are thus useless to me." The swashtika brightens. And then the swatiska freezes over and steam emits from it "How... fine, zen I will crack you like an egg." CUT We cut to Redemption as Blitzkrieg hovers in the air behind him on electrical energy discs. "Not vat you expected? Vat do I call you... let me see, you dress like ze Battling Briton... yet you have an R. Vat does zat stand for? Roadkill?.... Reject?" "Redemption, monster, I am Redemption!" He turns his head to him "Vat? of your predecessors... of the first Briton, who eventually became possessed by ze Negative Man, and his own teammates had to sacrifice themselves to stop him... or ze second? Who I do recall being such a loyal pawn of SAMURAI for so long. You have a lot to redeem, zere, young man. How aboutI make everything a little... easier for you!" A massive metal fist comes for Reb. He raises a hand and smacks the massive hand aside, spinning round to face Blizkrieg. "I may have a lot to redeem", he stares at Blitzy closely "But it is the Battling Briton that has allowed this to happen, it is through him that you face me now." He pulls back his fist "You have no hope of victory, and you know it...you're stalling me," he smiles sweetly "Really?... or..." CUT The comic cuts to show Mr Psychic's monocle, top hat, wrist watch and cane fall to the ground near Cain as Blitzkrieg leaps off the balcony where Mr Psychic was landing with a THOOM next to Cain; the comic zooms in on his grin CUT As the Blitzkrieg with Reb has the same grin "Am I stalling them?" End of issue.